The Man in Black

I've kind of worked myself into a corner and would like some input. When I first started this story and was coming up for names of characters, one of the names I came up with was Jim Cameron for one of the main characters. At the time, I didn't ever draw the connection between him and the director/writer named James Cameron. Now that I've noticed it, I've been trying to decide whether to change his name or not. Personally, I've come to know the character as Jim Cameron and I can't think of a name that fits him, its like renaming your kid. On the other hand, I don't really want the name jump out at the reader and pull them out of the story everytime they see it. So, do you think it warrants a name change? Or just leave it be.

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Philo

The last name rang a bell, but I didn't connect your cahracter name to the director until you mentioned it.

Its interesting that you mentioned re-naming your kid, because I hear folks worrying when they name their child that they have the same name as someone else (bound to be true somewhere, right) but as soon as the kid comes along, they are the one who has the name and it makes you think of them. So I'm saying, if your character is strong, your readers will focus on him and the name will be his. Choosing a name that is TOO well know, can create a distraction I think and prevent your readers from separating your character from his or her namesake.

There's my opinion, did it help?

Lord Raiden

I had to do that through a couple of my books. Heck, I've had charecters change names in the middle of the book totally by accident. Hence why I work with a notes sheet whenever I do my writing now.

Ok, let's look at it this way. What kind of person is he? White? Black? Asian? Is he from a particular place? What country is he from? I've done some google diving before looking for charecter names that fit with a given place and region and during the times when I couldn't think up a name I'd just call the charecter "jim" or "car1" (short for charecter 1) until I could cook up a name for them that fit, or felt right. Sometimes what you think is a good name might not actually play well into the story. I had in my most recent novel I'm working on, one charecter that underwent something like 3-5 name changes before I found one that really fit him and fit well with the story. So don't be in the slightest bit bothered or worried about changing the charecter name. Might take a bit of getting used to on your part, but you'll soon get used to it.

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Talia_Brie

I can't change character names either. I've never been able to. They come to me, and they have names. That's it.

That being said when I was reading this I made the connection to James Cameron immediately, which is not good (could be because my name is Cameron, so I have an affinity).

But like the others have said, if the character is strong enough, it won't be a distraction. At worst a reader will make the connection once, have a chuckle, then move on. It shouldn't detract from the reading.

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lisajane

I can't change the names of my characters either. I changed some names of the characters in my novel to the screenplay, started writing the screenplay, and promptly went back to the original names.

I didn't make the connection between your character's name and James Cameron until you said it. I don't think there should be a problem unless there's too many similarites between your character and the real James Cameron.

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MetalDog

If you change the name, you will get used to it over the course of time as you continue to write. Or you can do a find/replace later, but that always feels unsatisfying to me.

I don't think it's that big a deal though - I wouldn't change a name because of that. How often are you going to use his full name, anyway? Shouldn't be often, so it's even less of a problem. As someone has already said, his name will become connected to him totally in the readers mind if he's a living character.

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gohn67

Just leave it.

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Anarkos

The main character of my....well...stories...has gone through around three names. That is, however, part of his history...the secondary characters, on the other hand, are often nameless, and the names they are given vary weirdly.

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Harlequin

I've actually had character names go from story to story because I like the name so much.

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EsotericAngel886

I would keep the name, seeing as you're attached to it anyways. I don't think that the connection will affect the reader as much as you might think. I mean, you could use the most far-out name out there and there could be that one reader who has that name and when they and their friends read it for the first time, they might make that connection, but they (and readers in general) understand that they're not stealing anything like a name, so they'll still get to know that character the way you wrote it.

And you said yourself that you had just recently noticed the connection. It's easy to connect character names to real people, but I don't think that something like that would seriously deter a reader from finishing a book based on character names. And if they do, well then they weren't meant for reading.

-Eso.

Peter Thomas

Okay, maybe I've just totally lost the plot, but haven't you answered your own question? You've come to know your character as Jim Cameron. I didn't draw the connection of James to the director until you mentioned it, but he's very well known as "James". Just by having your character called "Jim" should be enough distance to throw anyone else off.

Or at least so says I.

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Anarkos

...except Jim is a well known shortening of James, so...

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Saponification

I made the connection. It's fine. Who cares?

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mammamaia

if the character in your book isn't a film director, no one's gonna care... and 90% of the readers won't know who the 'original' is, anyway...

stop agonizing over this and just finish your book and let the publisher decide if the name has to go or not [if you're lucky enough to get that far]...

love and hugs, maia

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Rebecca

I noticed it but I'm a weirdo movie freak. Just leave it